Manhattan Market Intelligence

Markets are nearly unanimous that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September meeting, with odds close to 90% for a reduction. In fact, Brown Harris Stevens Chief Economist Greg Heym noted that the August jobs report shows a softening labor market with weak hiring and rising unemployment—leaving the Fed with little choice but to cut rates by at least 25 basis points , as of his write-up on September 5. As of this morning, the odds of a 50-basis-point cut  sta

According to a recent Zillow analysis , “a median-income family would either need home values to fall by 18% or mortgage rates to drop from June’s 6.74% to 4.43% in order to afford a typical U.S. home.” In other words, waiting for both rates and prices to tumble is unrealistic. The New York Times goes further, pointing out the U.S. metros where a median-income household has the highest affordability  for a median-priced home. But while those national headlines may sound...

While New York is still dominated by older housing stock—83% of all sales in the past year—newer homes (built after 2015) are commanding a significant premium, selling for 58% more than older inventory . Renovated homes that have been upgraded since 2015 generally track closer to older properties, but in some neighborhoods, the premiums can be dramatic.   This “newness premium” plays out differently across the city. In some neighborhoods, new construction and gut renovations